24 August 2009

In honor of being named Ravenclaw's Head of House for the Fall Term I'd like to share my finished yarn. I named it House of Eagles because it combines the mountain colors of the view from our Common Room Windows with twists of blue and bronze like tiny house ties.

It turned out quite well for a first try. 213 yards of a thick and thin aran weight. I can't wait to find a project for it.

19 August 2009

I'm currently reading Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier after Smartcinderella listed it as one of her favorite books. I'm truly enchanted. It is a perfect mix of classic fairy tale and historical fiction. So perfect in fact that at times I think I have read it before...but I haven't. It is the story of The Six Swans (illus. by Elenore Abbott) set in 9th century Ireland and Britain. I think it is a combination of my familiarity with the original tale and the time period catches me up so completely and makes me feel certain I know this story even though I'm never quite sure what will happen next.

The part I just finished focuses on Sorcha learning to spin on a drop spindle and the pain spinning can cause even with soft wool. Poor Sorcha must spin starwort, a painful nettle plant, until her hands are ruined making shirts for her six brothers to save them from an enchantment.

I'm currently learning about the pain of spinning myself as I work on my first full skein of yarn. After the first 1 oz. my right shoulder burned like fire for a good 24 hours. Learned right there I cannot spin for 5 hours straight. The second oz. I paced myself better but still had cramps in my fingers. Number three was pain free but the skin is worn off the tips of the fingers I draft with. Number 4 just took forever (and involved the pain of a broken spindle shaft) since the first three wore me down but here are the singles all ready to go. Plying them is the next adventure.

16 August 2009

The last of my Little Red Cap trio is a more manly version... a Sea Wolf hat for my hubby's birthday this fall.

The yarn is Rowan RYC Cashsoft Chunky. It was a little tricky getting the pattern re-sized for the thicker yarn but well worth it. This is some of the softest, nicest stuff I've knit.

To go with a manly hat I'm going to recommend a couple of short stories told from the wolf's point of view. "Little Red" by Wendy Wheeler takes place in 20th century Chicago with the wolf a very dapper man about town. "Shall I Do Thee Mischief in the Wood" by Kathe Koja is set in more traditional fairy tale times with Little Red Riding Hood a mad girl living wild in the woods and the wolf a man traveling on business. Both can be found in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's anthologySnow White, Blood Red. I believe their entire fairy tale series has had a recent reprinting so it shouldn't be hard to find.

11 August 2009

If you are looking for a good read I highly recommend "Wolfland" by Tannith Lee. "Wolfland"re-imagines the Little Red Cap story set in 19th century Scandinavia. The story is included in Lee's short story collection Red as Blood or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer. This was the book that first got me interested in the darker versions of fairy tales that came before the sanitized versions of the Victorian era. I believe the collection is out of print now but check your local library system.

One interesting facet of this story is that it is set in a winter landscape. Typically the Little Red Cap tale is told in a Spring/Summer wood where flowers and other woodland delights tempt the heroine from her path.

This story perfectly coincides with the Ice Queen KAL currently happening at HPKCHC (another group I love on Ravelry). I used a precious ball of Rowan Kidsilk Night in Port, the added shimmer is beautiful, and topaz Swarovski bicones. Although Lisel, the heroine, wears a long red cloak with a golden clasp and a hood lined with brocade similar to one worn by her grandmother in her youth I can easily picture Anna, the Matriarch, in a opulent hood of blood red glittering with amber beads like the eyes of a wolf.

I'm so glad I waited to make this. I would have had a heck of a time with it last year. Even now I have to admit I made a few errors including finding a big hole that resulted from a decrease having slipped apart. Luckily the mohair hides a multitude of sins. Lack of perfection or not I think it is incredibly beautiful...beautiful enough to deserve a new coat or at least a charcoal grey sweater.

05 August 2009

A new endeavor for me today...learning to spin with a drop spindle. After a two hour class I managed to produce about 10g of not too bad looking worsted weight yarn. It is pretty over spun though since there really isn't enough of it to bother plying.

Sadly the shop's spindle delivery was late so I came home with some gorgeous Mountain Colors roving and nothing to spin it on so I guess a trip back in a day or two is a must. I'm excited to try and spin enough of something to knit with.

The picture doesn't do the colors justice. It is an assortment of blues, from a shade just this side of teal that deepens almost to indigo, then for contrast there is rich bronze.

The class was late in the evening and on a sleepy walk back to the car with my family, who was kind enough to come along for the drive, we saw tiny little bats just coming out for the night. They were delightful to watch chasing back and forth across the street. A perfect twilight end to a great experience.

Spindles always remind me of Sleeping Beauty. So to continue exploring modern fairy tales I'd like to share a series I'm currently re-reading, The Elemental Masters by Mercedes Lackey. The second book in the series, The Gates of Sleep, is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story. It is a wonderful series that features heroines that are very modern yet believable women for their time (1900s). I'm hoping that another one will come out in the future.

The artwork pictured is a drawing of Mrs. William Morris from 1870 by Rossetti. I think she makes a wonderful Sleeping Beauty.

01 August 2009

Fantasia is running an open classroom for August. Our first challenge is one based on the tale of Little Red Cap by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. This is one version of the Little Red Riding Hood story that comes from the oral tradition of The Grandmother's Story.

Challenge: Little Red Cap’s head covering is iconic in this story. Knit or crochet a cover for something. Spinners and dyers, make a red yarn. Consider exploring the nature of red, possibly through variations of shades or fibers.

I'm going to be exploring this idea in a number of head coverings (We will see what happens in a month. Ideally I'd like to do three.). The first is Reverie from Knitty, Spring 2009. I chose a beret style based on this illustration by Gustave Doré. The color is forest green not red because honestly I had Knit Picks Essential in Ivy Kettle Dyed on hand and green matches a pair of fingerless gloves I want to wear the hat with.

I'm really quite enraptured with the hat pattern itself. It is a great intuitive knit for working on while watching a movie or a baseball game (Started it for Stitch n' Pitch at Miller Park).

The yarn itself isn't thrilling me. I would have liked a bit more tonal variation and it seems to be fuzzing as I work with it. I think it will be ok as a hat but I'd be worried about how socks would look after a few wearings. And boy does it ever bleed. It took quite a few soakings, the last with vinegar added to get it fully rinsed.

In honor of Little Red Cap I've added a red velvet ribbon through the eyelets above the ribbing. I'm quite pleased with how it came out and expect I'll wear it often this fall.

I've been thinking about starting a knitting blog for a while now but I couldn't really think of a theme that would unify it and make it of any real interest or easy to sustain. Then my friend, Ielith, started Fantasia, a group on Ravelry devoted to using books as inspiration. It seemed like such a natural fit for me. I've always been a devoted reader and the realms of Faerie have always been important to my imagination and my artwork (you can visit my other blog, Marie de Carabas, to see some of my work).

I hope you enjoy journeying along with me and I hope you find a few good books along the way.